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The present work describes the challenges faced during the development of a countrywide Learning Analytics study and tool focused on tracking and understanding the trajectories of Uruguayan students during their first three years of secondary education. Due to the large scale of the project, which covers an entire national educational system, several challenges and constraints were faced during its conception and development. Examples of key challenges were: to understand the different nuances of the educational system, to satisfy ethical and legal requirements without narrowing down the scope and potential novelty of the initiative and to deal with integration and inconsistencies in the databases. This paper presents the design decisions and solutions found to address or mitigate the problems found as a contribution to facilitate similar large-scale projects. Three main experiments using data mining were conducted and their results are also described, pointing out the feasibility of finding meaningful patterns that can be used by educational authorities to improve their decision making and foster public educational policies. Finally, the paper describes the use of the data and the findings of the study to create an interactive visual tool to explore the relationship between student variables, performance and persistence in the system.

The present work describes the challenges faced during the development of a countrywide Learning Analytics study and tool focused on tracking and understanding the trajectories of Uruguayan students during their first three years of secondary education. Due to the large scale of the project, which covers an entire national educational system, several challenges and constraints were faced during its conception and development. Examples of key challenges were: to understand the different nuances of the educational system, to satisfy ethical and legal requirements without narrowing down the scope and potential novelty of the initiative and to deal with integration and inconsistencies in the databases. This paper presents the design decisions and solutions found to address or mitigate the problems found as a contribution to facilitate similar large-scale projects. Three main experiments using data mining were conducted and their results are also described, pointing out the feasibility of finding meaningful patterns that can be used by educational authorities to improve their decision making and foster public educational policies. Finally, the paper describes the use of the data and the findings of the study to create an interactive visual tool to explore the relationship between student variables, performance and persistence in the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to books in higher education is an issue to be addressed, especially in the context of underdeveloped countries, such as those in Latin America. More than just financial issues, cultural aspects and need for adaptation must be considered. The present conceptual paper proposes a methodology framework that would support collaborative open textbook initiatives. This methodology intends to be the main guideline for a digital ecosystem for the collaborative production of open textbooks and has the potential to solve standing methodological problems of current initiatives, such as Wikibooks and Connexions. The system's architecture and construction will be guided by six collaborative writing dimensions: process, roles, timing, controlling, granularity, and writing groups. Each dimension will coordinate an aspect of the collaborative work and is detailed in the methodology proposed in this paper. This paper is divided in the following parts: the first part introduces the subject, being followed by an analysis of related works about collaboration and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work; in this section, some authors, ideas, and methodological aspects of collaborative writing are also discussed. Next, the paper shows the proposal of a Digital Ecosystem for the collaborative creation of open textbooks, the six dimensions of this Ecosystem, and its respective descriptions. The work finishes with some conclusions about the proposal and the next steps needed to implement it in the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]